1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to separation of heavy, metals from an ore or natural occurrence of mineralized material such as olivine, peridotite and the like and more specifically, the invention involves a process for electric smelting to matte in situ by heating the mineralized material in its natural formation and, if necessary, adding a flux or fluxing electrolyte to convert it to a molten state with gravitational forces together with fluxing caused by sulphides or other fluxing materials, natural or induced, enabling heavier and precious metals such as platinum, palladium, copper, nickel and the like to concentrate at the lower portion of the molten metal thereby enabling recovery of the matte for subsequent treatment
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various patents exist in which heat is utilized in association with natural formations of rock, minerals and the like. However, the prior patents do not disclose the basic concepts or specific process of the present invention. The following prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,719,257 July 2, 1929; 1,898,926 Feb. 21, 1933; 1,993,641 Mar. 5, 1935; 2,953,353 Sept. 20, 1960; 3,493,060 Feb. 3, 1970; 3,907,044 Sept. 23, 1975; 3,988,036 Oct. 26, 1976; 4,376,598 Mar. 15, 1983 are relevant to this field of endeavor.